


Be Strong and Be Brave

by Khaleesi_0f_Trolls



Series: The Dragon Prince Drabbles (or random story ideas inspired from TDP discord server) [3]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Big Brothers, Brotherly Affection, Gen, Little Brothers, Older brother Kasef, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 03, Sibling Arguments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25277026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaleesi_0f_Trolls/pseuds/Khaleesi_0f_Trolls
Summary: Often at times Salim can't see eye-to-eye with his older brother, but one of the few things they can agree on is that they have to try and be strong for their father while he recovers. But how can he stay strong when Kasef doesn't come back from the war?
Series: The Dragon Prince Drabbles (or random story ideas inspired from TDP discord server) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1307921
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

"Ewww….do I have to eat this?" Kasef asks, screwing his nose up in disgust as a servant places a plate of warm meat mixed with broccoli and various other vegetables in front of him.

"You need your veggies to grow strong my boy, otherwise you're not going to grow." Ahling responds as the ten year old prince stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Look at Salim, he's not complaining about his veggies!"

Kasef looks over to his five year old brother, who was stabbing his fork into his plate to draw out several pieces of vegetables before shoving them into his mouth. Gross. While he loved his baby brother and always tried to set a good example for him (Salim was prone to trying to mimic whatever he did), he really didn't want to show him anything involving the most disgusting good he'd been served. How could he even enjoy the taste of this?

"Stop making faces Kasef, eat or you won't get to leave the table." Ahling scolds as he uses his own fork to scoop up some meat and a piece of carrot. "And Salim, slow down or you'll choke. And eat your meat."

"It tastes yucky!" The younger prince states as he pushes a bit of his meat to another part of his plate. "Spicy!"

"It's for flavor, some meat doesn't taste so good without proper seasoning." Kasef says as he pushed away some of the vegetables on his plate. "The vegetables taste gross, like…. rubber."

"How do you know what rubber tastes like?" Ahling asks as he grabs a napkin and used it to wipe the bits of food from Salim's mouth and cheeks. "If you want some seasoning, you can just ask."

Kasef makes another face before stabbing a piece of meat, a piece of green and another piece of meat before shoving it into his mouth. At least the meat covered up the taste of the vegetable, making it bearable to eat. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Salim watching him before trying to mimic what he had done with his food before putting the fork into his mouth.

"There you go, now do it with the rest of your food." Ahling says with a nod.

"I still hate vegetables." Kasef mumbles.

"And I'll love them!" Salim laughs.

* * *

"Do you really have to go?" Salim asks as his older brother is busy saddling his horse. "I can't run the kingdom by myself if you're gone!"

"You're the smart one of the two of us, you'll figure something out." Kasef says dismissively as he finished his task. "One of us has to stay here with father anyways, and I'd rather have it be you. War is no place for a boy with a soft heart like yours."

The remark kind of stung, but Salim kept quiet. While it was true that he wasn't as jaded as his older brother in fighting, preferring to talk things out with people instead of fighting, he still disliked how some people around the palace seemed to think of him too soft, including his own brother. 

"Why do you even want to go to war anyways?" He asks as Kasef is checking his saddlebags. "Duren isn't going to war with Xadia, and our father said he wasn't going to send an army out to aid Katolis' regent after what happened."

"Lord Viren warned father and the other rulers something like this would happen, and they just ignored his warning. And now look what happened; father is practically on his deathbed, the other rulers were probably killed."

"But don't you find it even a little suspicious? All this happening after Viren gets mad at the kings and queen after they all decided to follow Aanya's lead in not sending him their armies? Why do we even have to go and fight, can't we just...talk things out with the elves and dragons?"

Kasef gives a frustrated sigh and stops what he's doing to face his brother. "Salim, not everything can be solved with words. Sometimes we need to do more than just talk, sometimes we need our actions to be heard louder than our words. And even if we did try talking things out with the elves and dragons, you think they'll want to even talk peace? Unlikely, especially since they disliked us and the rest of the humans enough to kick plus out of the old homeland as punishment for what some other humans did."

"But what if there are some who actually _are_ willing to talk?" Salim asks. "What if there are elves and maybe even an archdragon or two who are willing to listen to peace and want to end the war peacefully."

"As I said, I doubt it. Look, when you get older, you'll understand." Kasef says dismissively.

"You're older and you _still_ don't understand!" Salim suddenly snaps, now feeling frustrated and angry. Why was Kasef even treating him like he was two? He was going to turn fifteen in a few weeks, and yet his older brother was acting like he didn't even know what he was even talking about half of the time! "I'm sorry for being born with a brain that actually has room to think things out instead of immediately jumping to the first thing that comes to my mind like a certain older brother I know! Some days I actually wonder which of us is really the mature one! Our father wouldn't want this, he wouldn't want his own son to go and get himself killed over what could be false words from a madman!"

Salim was expecting his brother's temper to flare and start yelling back at him, but for the first time it seemed like Kasef was actually lost for words.

"Salim..." Kasef reaches for his brother, only for Salim to turn away, his eyes brimming with tears. "Salim look at me."

He didn't want to look at Kasef, not wanting to see the angry or disappointed look in his brother's eyes. He's never yelled at him like that before, even out of frustration.

"If I promise not to do anything stupid while I'm away, will you stop sulking?" He hears Kasef ask.

"You know that's not going to happen." Salim responds quietly as his brother moves to stand in front of him.

"Okay fair point. But what if I really promise this time and give you this as a way to keep my promise?" Salim looks up to see Kasef removing something from his neck before holding it out to him. It was a simple leather necklace with a small wooden elephant head hanging in the middle.

"Isn't this your lucky necklace?" Salim asks as his brother takes his hand to place the necklace on it.

"You're definitely going to need it more than me if you're staying here to look after the kingdom while I'm gone." Kasef says with a small laugh before kneeling down a bit so he was level with his younger brother. "Someone needs to go out there and lead our armies to make sure everyone here stays safe. I promise I'll try not to do something stupid or die."

"We already lost our mother, we almost lost our father, I can't lose you." Salim says, trying not to let his voice crack. He couldn't bear to lose more family like this, it was too much for him to bear. Right now all he had was his older brother, the only one who seemed to understand him sometimes more than anyone.

"You're not going to lose me, I promise." Kasef assures him before standing up to pull him into a hug. "Be strong and be brave little brother, can you do that for me?"

Salim nods, unsure of what to say.

"I'll be back home as soon as I can, you'll barely start missing me by the time I'm back. Just try and do what you promised, and I'll do my best to keep my promise. And remember that I still love you."

* * *

 _I've failed... I've failed everyone._ Kasef thought as he laid there on the rocks, wondering how long it was going to take for death to come for him. He failed his father, his people, his whole kingdom, and his little brother - especially him. He promised Salim wouldn't do anything stupid and that he'd come back, and what did he do? Did something stupid.

_I'm so sorry Salim, I'm so sorry for not keeping my promise._

Everything hurt right now, his eye, his chest, his hand, his head, his entire body. He couldn't even move, his legs were probably broken from the fall he took. Even if he could move, where would he go? He couldn't go home like this, the palace guard would probably shoot him on sight with a volley of arrows.

 _Be strong and be brave_ he had told his little brother. Was he at least okay right now? He probably shouldn't have left him alone with all those court members who would practically eat him alive if he even said something that sounded wrong. Salim always tried to be brave, ever since he was little he always tried to be brave and strong in the face of everything like him but he had a hard time with it.

_I'm sorry for not being a better brother, I'm sorry for ever doubting you at times when you were right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..._

So many things he wanted to apologize for to his little brother, for every harsh word he said to him on that day he left and even the ones before. And he won't be able to now, not with how he was right now.

Salim was right, Viren was a mad man and he shouldn't have even turned to him for help. He shouldn't have let him turn him into a beast of stone and fire, Soren did the right thing in refusing the offer and running away, he should have done that too. But at that time he was doing what he thought was right, he thought he was protecting his brother from any future chances Xadia would have in trying to kill off anymore of the royal families. Xadia had already tried to take away his father, and he wasn't about to let it succeed in taking the last bit of family he had left.

So many regrets he had, and it was too late to fix any of them. Salim was now probably going to live with the guilt of not stopping him, even though it wasn't his fault. His brother already carried so much guilt on his shoulders for things that weren't even his fault, and what he had foolishly done shouldn't even be one of them.

_Be strong and be brave Salim, if not for me, then for our father and our people. Be strong and brave the way you always have been. Don't try and be like me...do it your own way._


	2. Part 2

Two weeks, that's how long it took for his father to finally awaken. Salim was in the library when one of the servants came to fetch him, and the moment they told him he was out the door with the book he had been reading still in his hands. His father was being propped up in his bed when he burst into the room, tears spilling from his eyes as the court physician yelled at him to be gentle when he tackled his father in a hug. Ahling didn't seem to mind though.

"Were you camping out in the library all this time?" He asks his son when he noticed the book he had dropped onto the bed.

"Umm...no?" Salim responded as he quickly grabbed the book and hid it behind his back before his father could see the cover. "D- definitely have not been hiding in the library for the past two weeks."

Ahling gave a soft chuckle. "Alright then. Where is your brother?"

Salim's face dropped before he looked away, trying not to let his father see him cry. Kasef never cried, he shouldn't either. He feels his father place a hand under his chin to turn his face back towards him. He could see the worry and concern in his father's eyes, his brother's last words to him echoing in his brain.

_ Be brave and be strong, be brave and be strong, be brave and be strong, be brave and be strong, be brave an- _

"He's gone!" Salim suddenly blurts out, tears already threatening to spill from his eyes before he covers his face.  _ Don't cry, don't cry, damn it Salim don't cry! _

"G-gone? Gone where?" He hears his father ask in alarm. Salim lowers his hands and bites his lip, worried about his father's reaction to the truth.

"He...he's not coming back...ever…"

"Salim, happened Kasef?"

When Salim finished telling his father everything (or tried to through his incoherent blubbering), the weight of guilt in his chest didn't cease. It was his fault, wasn't it? He didn't try hard enough to make his brother stay, and now he was dead. If his father was going to start screaming and yelling at him for what happened now was the time-

"My boy, oh gods Salim…" Salim looks up to see his father with his face buried in his hands. "When did they tell you he was gone?"

"Last week...last week when all the soldiers were brought home." The prince responds quietly and looks down at his feet. "I...I'm sorry father...I-I really tried to stop him, I told him it wasn't a good idea, but he refused to listen!”

“Salim, my sweet boy don’t blame yourself for this.” The prince feels his father touch his face and gently lifts his head. “You did what you could, your brother left on his own accord and suffered the consequences of his own actions. I do wish he had listened to you at least, or heeded your warning."

"I wish that too...but maybe I should have gone with him, maybe I could have been the voice of reason he needed to hear.”

Maybe if he had gone he could have tried convincing Kasef to turn back and never look to Viren for help. That man’s “help” just got his brother killed, all when he was trying to do what he thought was right. Salim then started to wonder if he had gone with his brother, would he have gotten killed as well after being turned into a monster? Or would he have fled back home like a coward?

“If you had gone, I would have lost you too though.” Ahling says as he carefully wipes away a tear coming from his son’s eye. “I know you do try being the more sensible brother to Kasef, and I do wish he’d heed your advice more. But now, you are the one who has to heed your own advice, and maybe the good advice your own brother had left for you.”


End file.
